Trip Report for July 28th to August 5! ***There were some bad parts to the trip, but overall the trip was a blast! Wednesday/Thursday To start off, I am not a big flier, and seem extra sensitive to them so some of these events may be way off, but we went down a day early so that we can watch planes take off, and land. We book the Embassey Suites South LAX. The day goes by, and we have to get up at 4am to catch a 6am flight to Phoenix. I am, surprisingly, calm, as most of the time I am ready to call the trip off... Anyway, we get into LAX, and going through the check-in process took about an hour and a half. We board the plane, (this is where sensitive steps in.) The plane seemed ok, but other "recent" trips the planes had little screens in the back of the seat, this one did not. We are flying US Airways. The flight is less than 1 hour to Phoenix, so I figure the "good" plane was going to be the flight from Phoenix to Cancun. Flight was smooth. We get to Phoenix, and board the next plane. When I get on the first thing I notice is how old the plane looks, it literally has the old green screen tvs mounted in the center isle ceilings!!:icon_eek: I then sit, and notice ashtrays in the arm rests! (How many years has smoking been banned on planes?) Longest flight I have ever had... Moving on... We arrive and have Lomas Travels taking us to the Hotel. We head straight through the airport, and past the "timeshare" folks. (Btw, I had been in sales for many years during college, and will tell you, if you do a timeshare presentation, then at the very end tell them you filed bankrupcy 1 month ago, they will not bother you, which they will then give you your prize and off you go, because they can't finance someone who had a BK that soon! :xyxthumbs We arrive at Temptations, and are struck first by how nice the resort looks from the outside. We go inside, and ask for our room, it is about 4pm right now. They send us over to a "concierge" who wants us to do a "tour" of the resort the next day, (we did not show). Finally we get a room number, *** insert negative part*** and it is a very small room on the second floor over looking the main road out front! This was unacceptable! We booked the room quite some time ago, and told them it was our anniversary, and this was the best they could do? I then was told they had another room on the first floor. This room had a door that faced Paty O's, right on the corner of the hallway and Paty O's... We told the guy "What do we have to do to get a decent room, slapped him a 20, and low and behold we get an ocean view room on the second floor overlooking the quiet pool. I say this is negative, but then realized that they probably try to give everyone crappy rooms first just to see if they can fill them, and go from there. We met many people who had those crappy room locations. This process took about 1.5 hours. So it was getting 6ish maybe more. We went to room, jumped in suits and went to quite pool where we met Betsy, and Josh? Great couple hung out with them quite a bit! We were standing around when CDcalpoly showed up ready for dinner, they had Yana with them, and a couple of other folks. We all decided that we were going to do lingerie night, and would meet up at that time. We left to get ready for lingerie night. At this point the alcohol started kicking in, and names are fuzzy, but my wife wore a very sexy corset, and skirt, and I wore black silky boxers with little red hearts on them. I am not good with a camera, so if anyone there has pics we are not embarrassed if you want to post. The people we met that night were wonderful! CD and Yana are great couples, and the time we spent with them was amazing! Thank you guys! After lingerie night, we head to Betsy, and Josh's room for some drinks and channel 12! <----- inside joke, but 3 chicks and a salad are very interesting. We party there to the wee hours, then head to our room for a few hours of sleep! Up next.... Fuck you, Fuck off, and Fuck head the trilogy!
A few things about the resort. Like most have reported, the beds are a bit stiff, but we slept very well! I tipped the bartender very well, and he had no problem supplying stiff drinks, including top shelf alcohol. Mr. Walker was on that list! The property was beautiful, and they kept it up very well! The rooms were the same! Very nice with mood lighting. I did not mention it, but that night we ate at Margaritas without realizing there was a menu! We were still getting acclomated to the resort. The little salad bar was great though! We loved the powder sand of the beach, but were not impressed with the water. Lots of Seaweed.
Friday the 30th! It is truly amazing what you forget just a few days later, couple that with alcohol, and you have a train wreck! This day, we woke up about 8 am after partying all night! We head out trying to find something to eat, and end up at the buffet! I have the chillequilles, and it turns out, I enjoy them so much, that I decide to eat them all week! We decide to head to the pool, and see what is going on! We cruise around the resort a bit trying to figure things out, grab a "cuban" from the little store and head out. On our way there, we run into the event staff Stephanie, and Chino who proceed to talk us into entering the Marriage game, I think we got 2nd or 3rd. Chino asked if you could make bigger/smaller on your wife what would it be. I said she was perfect, and he said that wont fly! So I said a smaller p*ssy, and so did the guy next to me! Needless to say, it was a riot! Chino and his crew are amazing! He even remembered where we were from, when we said goodbye, at the end of our trip! After this, we went to lunch, but because of Pedro (bartender) our mugs were 9 parts rum, 1 part mai tai or coke... very stiff, so by 1pm we were pretty rummy! During this day we met more Cancuncare folks! Great, Great people! During the meeting of all the great people, we booked the Friday booze cruise through the albatros company (who screwed us out of $200 bucks, but that comes later)! I payed at 3pm, then grabbed the wife to go eat, but when we got back to the room, she got sick :ernaehrung023:, and we could not go on the booze cruise. I went to see if I could get a refund, but they were gone. She finally felt better about 8pm, after a little nap, and more sickness... I told her that Pedro was making things very strong, and to slow down! When she felt better, we ate dinner at the buffet, which was pretty darn good! Today we met some amazing people! I do not remember names, but Ashley, The 6'7 tall guy and his girl (brad and Kellie)? who won Miss Temptations the day we left! Opusrex, MandL, and I am sure I will remember more! We met some great people that we referred to the website, Greg and Paula who are some of the most amazing people I have ever met! If anyone got their contact information, I would love to keep in contact with them, Travis and Erica, very nice couple from Missouri I think. Then there was Fuck you, and Fuck Head. I had met them the first day we were there, and about every half hour he would say, hey I am sorry but I dont remember your name, so I finally said Fuck you, he said Fuck off, and decided that is what our names were going to be.. his friend wanted in, so we called him Fuckhead... The guy was from NY I think, had a wife named Drew? He wore that straw 50's ganster hat! He was a premier member at the resort. He rented the Temptations yacht for Monday, and because of the Albastos folks, I was unable to go, but that is another report. More to Come....
Saturday the 31st! Today, we decided to go downtown Cancun and check it out! We took the bus, which is VERY safe, btw. It was 8.50 pesos. The bus drivers know exactly where to take you, if you ask. We wanted to go to La Casa Del Habano, Cigar shop. I wanted a true Cuban without worry of fakes, and this place is world reknowned for the quality of Cubans that they sell! We go to the shop, but it was closed!! Argh!! Guess I will just have to wait. So we walked to La Isla Shopping center, very nice mall, way over priced. Some things were even more than in the US! I found a Cigar shop inside and so I checked out the Cubans. The stamps, stickers, and engravings seemed up to par, so I bought a box of H-Upman #2, and Monte Cristo #2. We walked around for a couple of hours in and out of shops. This is an open air mall, so to get cool, you have to go inside shops, but some shops did not run AC! At this point, we decided to continue down the Hotel zone, not really realizing how far of a walk it is. It was very hot by mid afternoon, and we were sweaty! We walked to this little Restaurant on the shore just past Italian place , Lorenzilos? Great food! Small menu, but the cervesas were cold, and the food very good! We walked a good while until we hit some shops, got pestered to death by vendors, and then took a seat at Slices! We had a few drinks, and had a good time watching traffic. We then walked around the mall across the street, then eventually to the back of the mall, where we saw the most beautiful beach we had ever seen! The water was so blue, and clear, the sand white! I was not really dressed for swimming, but I was hot as hell, so in we went! The undertow was crazy! As the water went out, so did the sand! We enjoyed this for a while, then continued down the hotel zone when a taxi came by and said 4 bucks to temptations! Seemed like a good price, and away we went. We got back, and it was time for dinner. Now we did not make one resservation while we were there, and most restaurants were not full, but I went to the Italian restaurant, and tipped the guy 20 bucks, and he had a sudden opening. We had great food, the Filet was the best!!! Then we had them do the coffee! I wont spoil it, but it is a must, just ask for the special coffee!! Things are running together, but I think it was either this night, or last night, which was naughty school girl night! I didnt really have an outfit, but my wife had a very nice skirt which showed a bit of her white panties, and white shirt that showed off some of her ample breasts, quite a few people dressed up, and so the night went on with much pole dancing and various other things! We pretty much closed the joint, and it was this day we met opusrex! (If you are reading this, Go Ducks!!! Anyway, ended up stumbling back to the room, and not really remembering a ton, but, from what my wife said, it probably was a good thing! Stay Tuned..... Tomorrow the beginning of the Albatross screwover!!! btw, if I haven't mentioned it, I DO NOT reccommend booking tours with the group by the pool, they are not part of the resort, even though they make announcements over the loud speakers, and they have a booth at the pool! Temptations does not care if they rip you off, and will tell you that they won't do a thing if they don't follow through with the booking. If you must book a tour, go to the lobby, and to the right of the counter there is a tour booth there, that is supposedly part of Temptations.
Great trip report so far, thanks for taking the time to post it. As for the 'tours with the group by the pool' I'll wait and see what you have to say about what happened and may have some further comments. But I can assure you they are part of the hotel, Albatross is owned by one of the daughters of the hotel owner - the desk in the lobby is the same company as the guys in the booth by the pool. Suffice to say I do no business with them, nor likely to in the future.
Sunday the 1st Today is Isle Mujeres day! We are going to meet CD and Yana at 10ish to head over, we get up, go to Breakfast, and are running a bit late so we told them we would meet them over there. I had to talk to Albatross today about the Booze cruise we were not able to go on. So up to this point, I did not want a refund or anything, but Saturday, they told me to come back today, and they would figure something out. We paid 59 or 69 for the cruise. Anyway, I got up to the booth, told the guy what happened, and he said no worries, pick another tour, and we will apply that money, and you just pay the difference. I thought that was pretty cool! So we chose to goto Xcaret. So it was $200 bucks total, so we ask the guy, do we need to buy transportation? Nope, Food? Nope, snorkel? Nope, he mentioned something about a plus package, then handed us a brochure. He said dont bring anything except some cash for souvenirs. (Of course we knew he meant tips and such, which is fine, I had tipped very well all week, I brought $500 just for tips). So on with the day, we walked down the beach to the ferry, ran into our friends who were still waiting for the ferry. $15 X 2 and we are on our way! The trip over was gorgeous, the water blue and crystal clear! We land, and proceed to find golf carts. We all got carts at $40 or $45 for all day! We head out, we ended up losing CD and Yana, but went all the way around the island, the turtle sanctuary, Garafon, which was amazing to look at from the top of the cliff! We ended up at the little ruins at the end of the island. It costs $3 to go out on it, which we declined, but we ran into CD and Yana again, sat on the cliff overloaking the beautiful water. We saw sting rays swimming around in the water, which, from that height, were probably pretty big! We wondered around, saw probably 50 iguanas running around, and then decided it was time to leave. We drove around and back towards town, but on the opposite side of the island. Gorgeous views, more fish, great homes for sale! Thinking about it... :wuerg011: Went all the way back through town to a beach at the other end. Beautiful beach, we left CD and Yana to find some "beach" lunch. Sunset grill was our stop. Deana had nachos, and I had Fish Tacos. The food was good, we proceeded back down the beach sweating to death, could not find our friends, so ventured into town for some shopping. Ran into Travis and Erica, and had a few drinks before the trip back to the resort. This night was pretty uneventful since we had to get up early for Xcaret! We ate at the Steakhouse, and it was pretty good! Do not remember what we had, but remembered it being good! We then partied a little bit at nice shoes, Paty O's, and off to bed! Tomorrow... Starving Marvin, Why did it cost $200 bucks for 2.5 hours at Xcaret? Inquiring minds want to know!!!
Steve, I will get to that day, but suffice to say we got the screws from them, then when I went to talk to them, they would have none of it, and the Hotel would not back them at all saying that they "rent" the spot, and are not a part of the hotel at all, so I told the guy at the resort, that my travel agent told us to book at the hotel, and not downtown, because we could get ripped off... LOL! The guy at the desk right next to the check in was the one who kept saying, they are not a part of us, and there is nothing we can do.... I told him that his resort should probably consider who they let "rent" a space at the resort. He then told me the guy inside was part of the resort, and to book tours with him!!
